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kylieqrada's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Such a fun genre mash-up and not what I expected at all! Excited to continue with the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War
Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, and Sexual assault
sassmistress's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It's a grimdark space opera, I guess? Blended with cosmic body horror and gritty cop story. With the R-rating soup that's common to modern sci-fi.
There's a "good" ending, but it takes a lot of excessive violence, cursing, sexual topics, cynicism, moral ambiguity, etc to get there. There were funny parts, and it was very well-written, but it's not my favorite thing. There aren't really any noble characters (I think it says there are, but they're super flawed).
Hard to gauge pace, because there were times of nonstop action, but also some slow portions.
There's a "good" ending, but it takes a lot of excessive violence, cursing, sexual topics, cynicism, moral ambiguity, etc to get there. There were funny parts, and it was very well-written, but it's not my favorite thing. There aren't really any noble characters (I think it says there are, but they're super flawed).
Hard to gauge pace, because there were times of nonstop action, but also some slow portions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, and War
kurumipanda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Cancer, Rape, and Torture
grace_b_3's review against another edition
I liked the plot, but the characters didn’t grab me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: War
hdkreads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
seachelli's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence
shnarfking's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Violence
spentcello's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
I had high hopes, and Leviathan Wakes started off doing all the right things but as it went on it progressively got worse and worse. The blokey-ness (and psuedo-military and police speak) was a poorly executed attempt to take from Starship Troopers and Bladerunner (yes, I mean the movie), and a real turn-off for me. The dick jokes and other highly male sexual innuendos, I'm sure were meant to be playful ship banter, but were locker room trash and not witty or clever (haha, how funny that he's got something sticking out of his penis).
Technically, this didn't really get worse as the book went on, but I guess Fred was in it more as it went on... anyway, 'Fred said' had a frequency of about 4 or 5 times per minute. While 'Fred said' is particularly grating, all the dialogue was repetitive and insipid, normally following the pattern of: The engine looked broken. "I think the engine busted", Fred said. While that's not a real quote, it sums up most of the book; everyone seemingly feels to need to make completely obvious statements constantly. The ethical discussions between the characters were phrased in this jolty reportage, and were extremely basic and uninteresting to read. It essentially boiled down to simple binary discussions of freedom of information vs protectionism and vigilantism vs international legal process, and they weren't explored from interesting angles either.
Finally, I have major issues with the plot. Why would Holden's tiny team of survivors who are not particularly highly trained suddenly be kicking arse in military and para-military scenarios? They're nominally supposed to be grieving (oh wait, they drank that away... and as Miller says, that definitely fixes it), but also they're obviously intentionally flawed characters and to some extent are supposed to be ordinary citizens (or at the very least not the highly skilled elite). I understand wanting to have relatable characters and most of your readers are going to be ordinary citizens who might be a bit tired of the straight-forward hero trope, but characters should solve the issues facing them with actions and abilities that are compatible with them. There were also many, many unbelievable leaps of intuition, faulty decision making processes, plot holes, and tired stereotypes.
For me, this goes on the pile of very popular, over-hyped books that turn out to be quite disappointing. There's plenty of other science fiction with more depth, better plotting, and better characters, Leviathan Wakes just doesn't cut it.
Technically, this didn't really get worse as the book went on, but I guess Fred was in it more as it went on... anyway, 'Fred said' had a frequency of about 4 or 5 times per minute. While 'Fred said' is particularly grating, all the dialogue was repetitive and insipid, normally following the pattern of: The engine looked broken. "I think the engine busted", Fred said. While that's not a real quote, it sums up most of the book; everyone seemingly feels to need to make completely obvious statements constantly. The ethical discussions between the characters were phrased in this jolty reportage, and were extremely basic and uninteresting to read. It essentially boiled down to simple binary discussions of freedom of information vs protectionism and vigilantism vs international legal process, and they weren't explored from interesting angles either.
Finally, I have major issues with the plot. Why would Holden's tiny team of survivors who are not particularly highly trained suddenly be kicking arse in military and para-military scenarios? They're nominally supposed to be grieving (oh wait, they drank that away... and as Miller says, that definitely fixes it), but also they're obviously intentionally flawed characters and to some extent are supposed to be ordinary citizens (or at the very least not the highly skilled elite). I understand wanting to have relatable characters and most of your readers are going to be ordinary citizens who might be a bit tired of the straight-forward hero trope, but characters should solve the issues facing them with actions and abilities that are compatible with them. There were also many, many unbelievable leaps of intuition, faulty decision making processes, plot holes, and tired stereotypes.
For me, this goes on the pile of very popular, over-hyped books that turn out to be quite disappointing. There's plenty of other science fiction with more depth, better plotting, and better characters, Leviathan Wakes just doesn't cut it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Gun violence, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Medical content and Grief
mr_engineer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A solid conglomerate of familiar sci fi tech, themes, and tropes. The book expertly offers just enough explanation to keep the story going without delving into a thorough scientific essay.
The sophistication of the technology and the sheer scope of the setting are well thought out and affect the story in a meaningful way.
The characters are a little undercooked in this one, but that's to set up and focus on the relationship between Holden and Miller.
Holden and Miller getting a lethal dose of radiation and having to rush through Eros to escape was so intense. What a great scene that played to both character's strengths.
The sophistication of the technology and the sheer scope of the setting are well thought out and affect the story in a meaningful way.
The characters are a little undercooked in this one, but that's to set up and focus on the relationship between Holden and Miller.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Violence
Minor: Rape
tombomb's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gun violence
Moderate: Violence and War